Robin Skone Palmer

Robin Skone Palmer

My car, Felecia Ford, had a lovely day last week when my friend Lonnie was visiting. Poor Felecia had picked up a nail, as it turned out, in one of her tires. I became aware of it when the “low tire pressure” light came on. The next morning I dug out my tire gauge and checked — sure enough, the right rear tire was 8 pounds lower than the others. Yikes! So down to the gas station to put a quarter in the air machine and fill ‘er up. A quarter? Try four quarters! For air! Fortunately, I had four quarters, so I fed them into the slot and proceeded to air the tire — or so I thought. Apparently I was letting as much air out as I was putting in. After five frustrating minutes, I’d managed to get in only another 2 pounds of air. Fortunately for me —… Read More »

I do not understand the draw of free tee-shirts. This might not apply everywhere on the planet, but in Las Vegas, free tee-shirts abound. Sign up for cable TV and get a free tee-shirt telling the world that you subscribe. New pizza parlors lure customers to their Grand Opening with “free tee-shirts to the first 100 customers!” Casinos advertise, “Earn 100 points in one day and get a free tee-shirt!” The free casino shirts requires you to feed anywhere from $20 to $80 into a slot machine. (Here’s a newsflash, girlfriend, for $20 you can buy a nice shirt at a store. If you go to a swap meet, for $20 you can get four tee shirts with cute sayings like “Stupid” and the matching shirt that says “I’m with Stupid” that has an arrow pointing to the left. You just have to be smart enough to remember to always… Read More »

I am not and never have been superstitious. Not in the least; not even slightly. I say this because of what happened this week. It’s true that I sometimes knock on wood, and as a youngster I was careful to avoid stepping on cracks or lines so as not to break my mother’s back or spine. But other than that, no. I love black cats — they can cross my path any time they want (and actually do). True, I do not walk under ladders, but there is a perfectly good reason for that. It is very possible that there is someone up on the ladder and that someone might drop something on my head — like paint. Or a monkey wrench. That isn’t superstition, that is simply common sense. I once worked with a lady who believed that it was bad luck to pick up a fork if you… Read More »

Are there things that give you pause? Things that make you say, “Really? Ya Think?” The other evening I was coming home from way out in North Las Vegas which is a place of manufacturing and those big container park-warehouses. There are railroad tracks that run through there — freight trains shuttling products from one place to another. The tracks are at street level, and as I approached a crossing, there was a sign that said, “Trains have the right-of-way.” Really? Ya think? Naw, I’d rather go head-to-head with that switch-engine and see which of us comes out on top. There is something similar at a couple of the upscale golf-courses I occasionally play (when a discount pops up on Groupon) which are in upscale planned communities. The golf course snakes between the houses and crosses a street here and there. As one approaches a street in the golf cart (maximum… Read More »

About a year ago billboards started popping up around Las Vegas advertising the local hospitals. Each billboard has a digital display showing the current wait time. At the beginning, the times varied from 10 or 12 minutes up to 30-35 minutes. In addition to showing the (supposed) wait time in a changeable digital format, they also had pictures. One was of an older couple holding golf clubs and smiling broadly, another was a young kid on a skateboard, and another of a backyard barbecue. I’m not exactly sure of the reason for the pictures. Do you think it was something stealthy like, “Yeah, you’re having a good time now, but you’re going to need us before very long!” or subliminal like “Hospitals are just part of every-day life, get used to it”? Whatever the reason, it seemed disingenuous. Maybe it was meant to be reassuring, like, “see, people just like you… Read More »